Bike tour!

At the weekend, we tried out our new toy, the kids' bike trailer.

We just had a short ride around some nearby, quiet streets and cycle routes.

The kids loved it - Joshua slept and Isabella had fun.

It wasn't as arduous as I was expecting, not having cycled for so long, never mind the extra kilos.

These trailers are quite common here and double up as a pram!

The weather was glorious and I'm really looking forward to cycling more this year.

Cycling

The first thing we did in the holidays was buy Isabella her first cycling helmet and fit her new seat to Nico's bike so we can get out and about.

Since I'm not the strongest cyclist, I wasn't really comfortable having Isabella's seat on my bike and the problem with men's bikes is that a seat on the back makes it very difficult to get on and off the bike. Nico did some research and bought a seat for the front of his bike. There's a lot of debate about this but we see no disadvantage to having her up front. In fact it's nicer to be able to talk to her and for her to be able to see.

She was a little unsure at first but she soon got into cycling. She loved watching animals out and about and only got grumpy when we stopped moving for too long.

We cycled to the Weser and back in a little circuit and stopped at a playground on the way. We took a picnic but ate it when we got back while Isabella splashed in the paddling pool.

It was great to be back on the bikes again and we even cycled to nursery last week too. I'm looking forward to lots more bike trips while the weather holds out.

Back on the Bike

This week I've been enjoying cycling more. Since Nico needs the car to take Isabella to baby gym and baby swim, I decided to get the train to work twice a week.

It's the perfect time of year to be out of doors again and it feels great to be doing some kind of sport again. 

The train only takes about fifteen minutes longer than driving and I can read or knit on the way - benefits all round!!

The Saturday Update

It's been a lovely week this week.  First of all, we had a late start due to the long bank holiday weekend here in Germany.  The weather was beautiful so on Tuesday we headed out to Thedinghausen on the bikes to visit Ed and Loreto for lunch.  I've already posted about the bike ride itself.  One of the nicest parts, as ever, in rural Bremen, was the wildlife.  This time, we could here the frogs singing in Park Links der Weser and saw beautiful birds everywhere.  This morning, we've even heard cuckoos in the garden.

The short work week went well.  I now have an idea which classes I'll be teaching next year and since I will only have one new one, in year five, I'm quite pleased with that.

Yesterday, I had another lovely lunch with Loreto in town and we did a spot of shopping - perfect start to the weekend.  I bought a cute little rain cover for my bike saddle as it got caught in a thunderstorm on Thursday which didn't make for a pleasant ride home.  I also invested in some new stationary for a hopefully inspirational new start on the Weightwatchers front as I knew that this week was going to be a bad one on the scales, and was proved right this morning - two pounds back on.  More on that later.

Nico and I booked to go to the salon this afternoon so that he can redeem his Christmas voucher and I can tick another item off my 28 things list, I'll let you know how that went tomorrow.

I've also been trying to get to grips with a new book this week, my classic for the month - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  I have to say, the style and dialect in which it is written have made it really tough for me to get into but I am persevering and enjoying the story itself.

Next week is the last and only full week at work before another short week thanks to another bank holiday - I love May (to be fair, we don't have half term as England does, so it makes up for that).  We don't have a lot planned except getting ready for Briony and Lucas visiting the week after!  Have a good week!

Road Trip!

Just one of the amazing views

We made the most of the bank holiday weekend and an invitation to lunch with friends in Thedinghausen and took a 63km (39 miles) round trip on the bikes on Tuesday. The weather was gorgeous (reminder for the rest of the Summer - don't forget to pack the sun cream - oops) and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  It took us about 2 hours 45 minutes to get there and slightly less to get back.  The down side was walking today (I took the bus for the first time in a long time) the good news is that I wasn't walking like a cowboy as expected and my knees are feeling much better already.

On the road to Thedinghausen

Thedinghausen is lovely and our friends have a beautiful new house which made us jealous and led to conversations about houses and the future...one day...  There was a classic car show in Thedinghausen on the same day too so it was interesting to see them flying by as we got closer to the village.  Of course the best bit was seeing our friends and enjoying the delicious Spanish lunch they had prepared for us - you can't beat Spanish tortilla made by a native!  Delicious.

The old mill in Thedinghausen

Cycling in all Weathers

So even though I have stayed the same for three weeks running in terms of my weight, I have been cycling for an hour a day to school and back.  The weather over the past two weeks has been totally changeable.  Whereas some days like yesterday, it's been scorching hot and I've wished I had a change of clothes at school, other days, I've been caught in thunderstorms and thought the same.  It's to this end that I borrowed Nico's old rain poncho to try and minimize the damage.  Luckily for you, Nico thought this was so funny, he got up early to take pictures.

PS I'm not a hunchback, there is a backpack under there too until I get paid next week and can buy bike bags!

The Saturday Update

Yep, I'm back with my weekly updates.  After some weeks off the diet to get used to being gluten free and with the move, I'm back on Weightwatchers and trying to get into a routine. 

This week I have stayed the same.  Actually, despite good intentions last week it's been pretty rocky and apart from still being on holiday, it's been up and down emotionally so I think with all the comfort eating, staying the same is a good result.

This week it's back to school and hopefully back into a good routine.  After a quiet week exercise wise, I will be cycling too and from school every day so hopefully that will give me a good boost.

Whitstable

We've had a wonderful couple of days in Whitstable.  It was really nice to break up the driving with a stop over in the south of England.  We arrived in the town at 4am on Monday morning following a hell of a drive and slept for nearly three hours in a carpark!  We stayed at Flat One, Harbour Street.  The flat was wonderful.  It was such a home from home with the owner, Julie, putting in all the perfect little touches, wine, tea coffee, pain au chocolate, fresh flowers...

Julie's Website

Julie also had lots of tips on where to go and what to do.  On the first day we rested for the morning before taking a walk along the beach, fish and chip lunch and a quiet afternoon before a delicious dinner at Zizzi's.  I really want to give them a big mention because they are the only restaurant I have found so far, and a chain at that, who do gluten free pasta.  We went there for dinner both nights and the food was delicious - highly recommended!

Zizzi's in Whitstable 

On our full day there, we made an early start and hired some bikes from another local business for a tour to Canterbury.  It was a fifteen mile round trip, and I was really proud of myself, never having cycled in England for fifteen years, for making the journey, although some of the hills after the nice flat landscape in Northern Germany nearly killed me!  Canterbury was lovely, a very nice town but as usual for the South of England and the tourist industry, the cathedral was too expensive.  Canterbury also led to a break on my no book buying for a year ban...  Well, how could I go to Canterbury, never having read the Canterbury Tales?  As long as I have read it and all my other unread books this year, I will be happy.  

We also bumped into a German school group, a Spanish school group and an English school group.  I can't believe we drove for so many hours and still didn't escape German school pupils!  A final note on Canterbury is the amazing farmers market we visited as we left.  Absolutely amazing fresh, local products, everything from wine to meat and fish.  If only Nico had had his spice collection there in Whitstable, Zizzi's would not have had a chance!  It was called the Good Shed - worth a visit every time!

Cycling...again.

If you had told me a year ago (or possibly even just a week ago) that today, on a Tuesday (when I work 8-5), I would work all morning with no break 8-13.20, because I had to cover someones duty and a lesson, then have three meetings in the afternoon, and then lock myself out of the flat and spend twenty minutes on the doorstep like a tramp, and then decide to spend an hour and a half cycling through and around Bremen in the rain, I would have told you to have your head checked but that is exactly the day I have had today. 

Okay, so it wasn't just a random bike ride, we had another flat viewing over and out the other side of town, (I'm not writing about the flat until we make a decision but they aren't cat haters!), but by the time we got to the viewing I had chilled out so much that I could actually see myself making the thirty minute commute every day.  The nicest thing was how green the surroundings were; instead of feeling like the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, powering away on my bike through the busy town, I felt completely at peace with everything (even when the route we'd chosen took us directly past the car towing depot from the other week!). 

So my advice for stress - get on your bike!